T-Pain's New 'On Top of the Covers' Album Sees Him Take on Hits by Sam Cooke, Journey, Frank Sinatra, and More

The King of AutoTune has gone au naturel.

Years after releasing his sixth studio album, T-Pain returned with On Top of the Covers, a much-anticipated project on which he showcases his natural singing voice. The Grammy-winning artist said he began working on the effort in 2019, immediately after he won The Masked Singer.

T-Pain said in a press release, “This covers album has been years in the making. … It got put on hold for a bit, but now that I’m independent, I’m able to do whatever I want to do through Nappy Boy Entertainment and this is something I’ve felt strongly about for a long time. These songs are not what you’d expect when you hear that T-Pain is doing a covers album and that is what I think is cool about it.”

The seven-track project finds T-Pain putting his own spin on a diverse mix of records, including Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” (alongside NandoSTL), and Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

The 38-year-old dropped a series of amusing promo vids on social media, noting in one that the project is “inspired by songs made by white people.”

In another he wrote, “Each one of these songs means something to me and helped me fall in love with music at different points in my life. I’m releasing this cover album from the view of what I hear when I listen to each song.”

You can stream On Top of the Covers now via Apple Music and Spotify below.

In support of the album, T-Pain will perform three intimate shows at the Sun Rose in Los Angeles. The sold-out concerts—which will take place March 17, 18, and 19—will include performances of T-Pain’s biggest hits as well as tracks from On Top of the Covers.